Ever since we started on the setting, I’ve engaged in more-or-less frequent musings on how I would translate the setting to D&D rules in a way that would preserve some of it’s particular quirks. My vague concept of the “Ruins & Rogues” system would use B/X ability score bonuses (13-15 +1, 16-17 +2, 18 +3) and OD&D class hit dice. This would be mixed with some concepts from later iterations of D&D: a single XP table for all classes, ascending armor class, and the 3E saving throws but with static success numbers, à la Blood & Treasure (which I haven’t actually bought and read yet). It’s more of a pencil sketch of a system than something solid, but then it seems to me that one of the main appeals of OSR/retroclone games is that all you need are a few basic ideas and you’ve already got a ton of material that can be easily tweaked at the table to work with those basics.

Recently I’ve been thinking about faith in the setting again (which will probably lead to another Savage Worlds post on the topic soon), and that got me thinking about how the R&R cleric class would work.

Cleric

Hit Die: 1d6/level
Armor: Clerics can wear any armor and use shields.
Weapons: Clerics can use any weapons.

The most obvious difference between this and the traditional cleric class is that they do not cast spells. Keep in mind that the magic-user spell list for the setting would include the cure spells, so magical healing is still available to the party. Ultimately this ends up being somewhat more like a paladin in function, but I’m aiming for a lower power level than the traditional AD&D paladin with its high-end attribute requirements.

Right now this is really just an exercise since I’m not running anything I could test this with. Thoughts?

Edit: Did not take long after I posted this to decide “Meh, I’d probably just run LotFP with a modified cleric and cure spells on the magic-user list.” The shower always brings clarity of RPG-related thought.

2 Responses to Ruins & Rogues: OSR-Flavored Age of Ruins

Ha! You and I are thinking along similar lines. I’d like a B/X system with different class xp tables, Will, Reflex and Fortitude saves, maybe AD&D hit points. Trying to to work in 4E skills and figue out rogues.
To most of my players the “glory days” of D&D to them was 3.5 where as mine were B/X and AD&D.